Building for the Future

A cooperative project between DNR and the Department of Corrections provides nest boxes for bluebirds, training for inmates

by Dave Ambrose

Because of work being done by inmates like Leroy Sutton at the Robinson Correctional Center there are more bluebirds singing in southeastern Illinois.

Sutton, Chicago, serving a six-year sentence for assault, is part of a unique program in which prison inmates are building bluebird nest boxes, wren houses and other nest box structures which the Department of Natural Resources is distributing to public and private lands to provide additional nesting space for wildlife species.

"It's nice," said Sutton, who had 20 years experience as a carpenter before his conviction. "There's not too many things you can do here where you can use things you know. This helps pass the time. You're doing something in a room thinking about what's going on at home."

The idea of using prison inmates to build next box structures was cooked up by Department of Corrections officials, DNR Natural Heritage Biologist Terry Esker and DNR Private Lands Management Biologist Kevin Woods early in 1995. The project creatively fulfills the Department of Natural Resources' need for a supply of nest box structures and provides the Department of Corrections with a useful vocational program for inmates.

Initially, the project was a recycling program to utilize wood from pallets that were beginning to pile up at the five- year-old prison. Soon, however, local businesses such as the Robinson Wal- Mart and Heartwood Industries, a builder of wooden dog houses, began donating scrap wood the inmates could use to produce bird houses. Wal-Mart has been donating wood pallets, and the cutout from the arched doorway of one of Heartwood's dog houses is just large enough to produce a wren house.

"Everyone benefits," said Esker. "Businesses are getting rid of scrap wood they have no other way of getting rid of. The Department of Corrections benefits, Natural Resources benefits and wildlife species benefit from the increased number of nesting cavities being provided."

Among the benefits to the Department of Corrections is the rehabilitative value the project has for the inmates, according to Robinson Warden Marjorie Donahue.

"I'm always looking at ways to increase programs and activities for inmates — not just anything, but programs and activities that instill a sense of responsibility for one's own life and help them work toward establishing a work ethic," Donahue said. "We want them to understand that it's better to be involved and accountable instead of just hanging around on the street with nothing to do."

Because of the Robinson Correctional Center's relatively isolated location in southeastern Illinois, Donahue said it was difficult to find industry projects for the inmates. "We had the labor available," she explained, "and DNR had a need for labor."

Since the project's inception, inmates have produced more than 5,000 bluebird nest boxes, more than 2,000 wren houses, 700 barn swallow boxes, 64 barred owl boxes, eight barn owl boxes and 12 bat houses. The program has focused on bluebird and wren boxes because of demand and because scrap lumber pieces available to the prison typically aren't big enough for producing larger structures.

"If we had a supply of good quality lumber," Lisker said, "we could produce a tremendous product her." With larger dimension lumber, inmates could build wood duck nest boxes and other, larger projects.

Currently, 15 inmate workers, working in two shifts, are paid to build nest boxes. The workers earn $20 per month, which they can use to buy items from the prison commissary. In addition, three inmates who had been with the program earlier have been approved to continue working on a volunteer basis.

When we started out," said Doug Hecker, leisure time coordinator, who oversees the project, "It was a good day if we built 15 boxes. Now, it's nothing to do 60 or 70 per shift. Our first delivery in April 1995 was 120, and it took us from February to April to do that. Now, we can do that in a day if we have to."

46 • Illinois Park & Recreation • September/October 1996

Participating inmates are checked out to determine their level of woodworking skills and provided with training. Power tools, such as saws and drills, are used only under staff supervision.

According to Hecker, finding qualified inmates to participate has not been a problem. "You get some very talented people in her," he said. "Society has decided they need to be locked up, so you find the same kind of people you'd meet on the outside. We get doctors, lawyers, carpenters...."

Working from plans and samples provided by DNR, the inmates have set up an assembly line operation to speed production. They use prefabricated templates to cut pieces for assembly, and wooden jigs created for each type of nest box house ensure that each house is constructed exactly the same way.

"The inmates have done this," Hecker said. "I just found some guys with some woodworking experience and they've done the rest."

Approximately once a month the Department of Corrections delivers finished houses to Esker's office at DNR's Prairie Chicken Sanctuary at Bogota, near Newton Lake. Esker and Woods then distribute them through local Soil and Water Conservation Districts to participating landowners, or to public lands such as state and local parks. To date, nest boxes have ended up along fields and in forests in 19 east-central and southeastern Illinois counties.

"Some of the first nest boxes were donated to local schools and local parks," said Donahue. "For the inmates, part of the value of the program is the payback to the community."

One of the program's most ardent cheerleaders is Cindy Poppenhager of the Edwards County Soil and Water Conservation District. Since the program's inception, Poppenhager has distributed nearly 600 of the prison-made bluebird nest boxes and more than 350 wren houses to landowners, local parks, schools and even a nursing home.

"It's been phenomenal," she said.

All of the boxes, she said, are being used by bluebirds. "People call me to tell me, "the birds are here and they're nesting." In Edwards County, we have bluebirds everywhere. The nest boxes are working."

Some of the wren homes Poppenhager has distributed are being used by Wabash Area Development Inc. In conjunction with counseling provided to troubled families.

Because some of the nest boxes have been installed at the prison, Sutton also has been able to see the results of his labor.

"I get to see the birds nest in them and the eggs and the little birds and all," Sutton said, "It makes me feel good." 

Dave Ambrose is a staff writer for Outdoor Illinois.

Terry Esker, Department of Natural Resources Natural Heritage biologist poses with a pallet of wren houses produced through the program. The unique cooperative project between DNR and the Department of Corrections provides vocational training for inmates while producing nest box structures to provide additional habitat for wildlife.